Dom Casmurro.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

By Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. Trans. and Foreword by John Gledson. Afterword by Joao Adolfo Hansen. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

This new English version of the Brazilian classic Dom Casmurro is part of the Library of Latin America, a series published by Oxford University Press to make available in translation masterpieces by major nineteenth-century Latin American writers. Rather than try to reproduce the phraseology of nineteenth-century prose, Gledson has used modem English to create a highly readable text. The accessibility of Machado de Assis's classic novel is further enhanced by judiciously placed footnotes that elucidate geographical and historical references, as well as by an insightful preface and epilogue.

Don Casmurro was written in the 1890s, when realism and naturalism dominated Latin American fiction. Although he draws from these movements as well as from romanticism, the author differs sharply from other writers of his day in his absolute rejection of social determinism. Bento Santiago, the "Don Casmurro" of the title, is not the victim of his mother's fervent religiosity or of the hierarchical system into which he was born, but of his own stubbornness. In fact, although he insists that casmurro, his nickname, means "quiet person who likes to keep to himself," the word actually means "intractable" or "headstrong."

Having lost her first-born son, Dona Gloria promises God that if her second son, Bento, survives, she will give him to the church. When her husband passes away, Dona Gloria regrets her decision, but a pledge to the Almighty cannot be broken. As the boy grows up, it becomes increasingly clear that he has no religious calling. He is fascinated not with the rites of the Mass, but with his young neighbor Capitu, a vivacious adolescent who, although of an inferior social class, soon wins Dona Gloria's heart. Some of the most endearing moments of the novel are the descriptions of Bento's and Capitu's flirtations, their innocent kisses, their schemes to thwart Dona Gloria's projects for her son's education. In order to avoid going to the seminary, Bento, spurred on by Capitu, enlists the aid of Jose Dias, an agregado or "dependent," a kind of servant whose well-being--in fact, whose very survival--hinges on his association with an affluent household. Insecure and manipulative, Dias actually wants Bento to go away to the seminary so that he can exercise unchallenged influence over Dona Gloria. However, he...